Tag Archives: Vermont FRESH network

A group of local volunteers is working to get more locally grown food on restaurant menus, and several Keene-based restaurants have already signed on.

The Monadnock Menus initiative began earlier this year through the Monadnock Farm and Community Connection program, which aims to strengthen the connection between the public and local farmers, said Jennifer F. Risley, program coordinator for the Hannah Grimes Center in Keene and participant in the Monadnock Menus effort.

“It’s a group of volunteers looking to bring more awareness to local food and farms,” she said. “We provide services for farmers, such as giving them new markets and promoting farmers markets.”

Risley said Monadnock Menus was inspired by a similar program in Vermont called the Vermont Fresh Network.

“There’s a registration fee for restaurants who sign on of $20 annually,” Risley said. “We go to restaurant owners and ask them if they’re interested in participating. We give them a packet with all the information and we try to encourage them to identify what’s already on their menus that’s local.”

In return, the participants are listed on the Monadnock Menus website, and in Monadnock Table Magazine, Risley said.

Restaurants are also encouraged to set their own goals for carrying locally grown food on their menus, Risley said.

Several local restaurants have joined the effort, including Little Zoe’s Pizza, which opened in The Center at Keene about seven months ago.

“Being a small business in the community, we want to support other small businesses,” said Melanie J. Forster, who co-owns and operates Little Zoe’s with her husband, Ed.

The take-and-bake pizza shop already uses locally produced products, including King Arthur flour and Cabot butter, both from Vermont, chorizo sausage from the North Country Smoke House in Claremont, and produce from the Tenney Farm in Antrim, Forster said.

“It’s something we do anyway, it’s part of what we do,” he said. “The Green Wagon Farm (of Keene) and I have done a lot together, as well as Boggy Meadow (of Walpole) and Abenaki (Springs Farm, of Walpole).”

Brewbakers Cafe on Main Street in Keene has also been offering locally grown foods on its menu, said Jeffrey J. Murphy, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Eliza.

“It’s amazing in this area how much local foods have been integrated with local cafes and restaurants,” he said. “It (Monadnock Menus) was a natural fit for us, and really a no-brainer.”

All of the coffee at Brewbakers comes from Terra Nova of Gilsum, Murphy said, while much of the bread comes from Bakery 42 in Antrim and Orchard Hill Farm in Alstead.

When it comes to produce, Brewbakers gets locally grown fruits and vegetables from Milkweed Farm in Westmoreland, Green Wagon in Keene, Abenaki Springs in Walpole and the Spring Sun Farm in Westmoreland, Murphy said.

They also get most of their beef from local producers like Manning Hill Farm in Winchester.

“For us, we have personal relationships with most of the farmers we deal with,” Murphy said. “They’re people, and it’s great working with people. Plus it’s fresh, it’s right there.

“It’s important that we do what we can to support them, to make local farming more viable,” he said.

Paris pointed to other benefits of fostering relationships with local farmers.

“Ultimately it’s better for the environment because you’re eliminating some of that transportation cost,” he said. “We’re just doing what people used to do years ago.”

We feel inspired – inspired by you: the eaters of the Monadnock Region. Three-quarters of you answered our 2010 survey and said supporting local businesses and agriculture is very important to you. This inspired us to move forward with a program that will empower you to put your money where your mouth is: The Monadnock Menus Program.

The Monadnock Menus Program has a full plate of goals – to create a community where local food is easy to find, increase the number of restaurants and cafeterias serving local food, and encourage more of us to choose local food wherever we happen to eat. As we develop this program we glean ideas and resources from other programs such as the Vermont Fresh Network, New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection, and Monadnock Matchmaker Event.

Vermont Fresh Network
Founded in 1995, the Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) brings farmers, food producers and chefs together and encourages them to build partnerships. Participants throughout the state join by making a “handshake agreement” to buy from or sell to a number of VFN members on a regular basis. VFN then fosters these relationships by creating materials to help eaters identify members (a dining guide and window decal), hosting dinners at member restaurants to showcase farmer-chef connections, and offering a Matchmaker Event to introduce more wholesale buyers and sellers to one another.

New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection
In our state, we have the New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection which hosts Growers Dinners highlighting the products grown and processed locally at restaurants throughout the state. In 2010, there were five dinners including a benefit for the New Hampshire Food Bank. Wouldn’t it be great if a restaurant in our Monadnock Region hosted a Growers Dinner in 2011?

Monadnock Matchmaker EventFor two years, the Monadnock Matchmaker Event connects local farmers, chefs, retailers and distributors in our region – think of it as speed dating for farmers. Last year 60 local food wholesale buyers and sellers, volunteers, and interested community members came to the event to develop new and stronger relationships and bring more local food to you.

Now it’s time for Monadnock Menus to move forward using the momentum gained from the work above plus the work of many other individuals, organizations and businesses who make our local food system stronger. Stay tuned for phase two of Monadnock Menus – and keep your eye out for the Monadnock Menus sticker in some of your favorite restaurants in our region.

Monadnock Menus is a volunteer based program working with the community and local restaurant owners to enhance and establish relationships between consumers, farmers and restaurants to promote the use of locally produced products.